ARTICLE: 50 Essential albums for lockdown listening

As there are no live concerts at the moment, I would like to throw in the classic 'Cheap Trick at Budokan'..
 
I've not heard the vast majority of those.
The choice of Kraftwerk' s The Man Machine is an interesting one, Ed.
I agree with Derek in preferring Computer World.
Both good albums, but Computer World edges it for me, purely because of Computer love which has proved to be very real!

I wonder if you've heard Replicas by Tubeway Army?
Still a big favourite of mine.
Or Going for the one, by Yes? Turn of the century, Awaken and Parallels are all excellent tracks on there.

You probably have, but just interested to know.
 
'Talk Talk - The Colour of Spring. The best album of the 1980s. Nothing more needs to be said.'

Damm right it is:thumbsup:

Weird thing about the 80's is that music I liked then I now mostly find to be absolutely dreadful. Prime example are The jam. Went to see them 5 times from 79-82 and adored them. I now just can't listen to them.

I personally reckon the best album from the 80's is Heaven Up Here by Echo And The Bunnymen. It is damn near flawless and way better than anything they did afterwards.

Best album of the 90's and 2000's were probably ones from Radiohead ... who didn't make the list once here.
 
I cited it because the list has a number of electronic music entries and in this genre, 76:14 was a seminal release. At least here in North America it’s recognised as such.

I love electronic music myself. I do still like 76:14 but never liked it as much after my mate pointed out that the best track on it, 8:07 is a total ripoff of Tangerine Dreams Love On A Real Train.

The current electronic scene is IMO probably the best ever. Have you heard the latest album from Barker for example?
 
I love electronic music myself. I do still like 76:14 but never liked it as much after my mate pointed out that the best track on it, 8:07 is a total ripoff of Tangerine Dreams Love On A Real Train.

The current electronic scene is IMO probably the best ever. Have you heard the latest album from Barker for example?
Hmm, similar yes but I wouldn’t say a rip-off. TD is the grandaddy of this whole genre. Once the sequencers get fired up, there are bound to be similar patterns from one artist to another and given TD’s volume of work, I’m sure many artists have derived parts of their creative output from them, inadvertently or not. I have tons of TD music; followed them from about 1971. Agreed there’s a tremendous amount of electronic music now. I will give Barker a listen. You may also want to download the free demo music from the International Electronic Music Alliance (FLAC file) which is a great collection.
 
What a great list even if I don't like half of the music on it ;)

Can I suggest anyone who's not heard them give Ozric Tentacles a try.

Not mentioned on this list anywhere then again I'm sure they're well known to many but I'm always happy when I introduce someone new to their style of electro fusion world music.

Erpland
Strageitude
Jurassic Shift
Pungent Effluent

Any of those albums for a starter but there's a lot more out there. Eat Static are another group associated with them and also similar.

G
 
Ed - thanks for putting together the list - working my way through them. Old enough to get some triggered thoughts from the 70s list. Giving a good workout for my new Tidal/Roon/Lyngdorf combo - george
 
It’s actually quite a good list - impossible to please everyone but lots of great slightly off centre choices.

personally I’d have parliament over funkadelic.
And I’d have to include Lee Scratch Perry’s Arkology bix set.

for the 80s I’d have PE’s fear of a black planet. sonic youth bad moon rising.
Human League Unlimited Orchestra - martin Rushent doing Dare in dub.

Top marks for having global communication but Coldcut’s Journeys by DJ is the ultimate mix cd.

Although on a house angle I’d have to include Deep Dish’s One Nation Under House.
 
What a great list even if I don't like half of the music on it ;)

Can I suggest anyone who's not heard them give Ozric Tentacles a try.

Not mentioned on this list anywhere then again I'm sure they're well known to many but I'm always happy when I introduce someone new to their style of electro fusion world music.

Erpland
Strageitude
Jurassic Shift
Pungent Effluent

Any of those albums for a starter but there's a lot more out there. Eat Static are another group associated with them and also similar.

G
I was going to suggest Ozric Tentacles, I have a number of their albums, my favourites being the four you mentioned. Looking on my NAS I have 19 of their albums.

I bought Global Communication 76.14 from Amazon a couple of years ago for about £4 via music magpie.

Other recommendations from me.

Leftfield: Leftism
The Orb: U.F.Orb
I have this on vinyl in the limited edition sealed black cover, although I had to open it to play it, I wasn’t rich enough at the time to buy 2 copies
Marconi Union: Different Colours
Woob: 1194


Too many to mention at this time of night.
 
Some good stuff on there. From the 90's I'd add Londinium by Archive. Stunning album I still listen to to this day, over 20 years since I first heard it.

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The word Shamen is enough to send a shiver up many a persons spine in not a good way.

Yeah En tact was OK with the help of limited MR C input, the album was pretty high selling and a fair bit of chart success on it if I remember. Most people I knew had a copy.

Roll on to Boss Drum and headline comedy rave track when rave was all but dead come the end of 1992. The comedy rave track would have been better describing knifes in your face and horse tranquillisers at that point.

They weren't ever really a rave act and the chance of hearing a Shamen track at a rave was next to zero.
 
'Talk Talk - The Colour of Spring. The best album of the 1980s. Nothing more needs to be said.'

Damm right it is:thumbsup:
Never heard of this album before (or most on the list) so I fired up Spotify and.... What a load of shit! Couldn't make it through the first track, couldn't make it through the second track, switched it off!
It was like a cross between elevator music and music to slit your wrists to!
 
Just out of interest (and because I've not heard of any of the albums on this list and only heard of half a dozen of the artists). I googled the best selling albums of all time.
A much more familiar list to me, although there is still plenty there I would skip..
 
Just out of interest (and because I've not heard of any of the albums on this list and only heard of half a dozen of the artists). I googled the best selling albums of all time.
A much more familiar list to me, although there is still plenty there I would skip..
Although that is in the US. I can only find a UK list from 2016 so far
 
Just out of interest (and because I've not heard of any of the albums on this list and only heard of half a dozen of the artists). I googled the best selling albums of all time.
A much more familiar list to me, although there is still plenty there I would skip..
Although I have a lot on that list it is a USA based one. Lot of crap on it and it's dominated by the Beatles, Garth Brookes, Zep and Floyd.

Rather go by this list.
 
Never heard of this album before (or most on the list) so I fired up Spotify and.... What a load of sh*t! Couldn't make it through the first track, couldn't make it through the second track, switched it off!
It was like a cross between elevator music and music to slit your wrists to!
Each to their own I suppose. :rolleyes: I'm not sure why you would find that album quite so offensive if you're a fan of 'music' generally. But I suppose if your musical tastes are more niche you are probably going to hate it!:D
 
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I can't say the Talk Talk album really set my world on fire, but then I only listened to it for the first time in the last few years. It's got some great tracks on for sure, but some others didn't do much for me and there's other 80's albums I'd easily put above this. That of course could be because they were albums I listed to back at the time and they transport me back to that era. Each to their own :D
 
I can't say the Talk Talk album really set my world on fire, but then I only listened to it for the first time in the last few years. It's got some great tracks on for sure, but some others didn't do much for me and there's other 80's albums I'd easily put above this. That of course could be because they were albums I listed to back at the time and they transport me back to that era. Each to their own :D
Yeh, have to agree this is all very subjective. What means a lot to one person means diddly to someone else. I suppose nostalgia has a lot to do with what music you still like now from your past. A particular time in your life when certain tracks or albums leave a permanent mark. Whereas other stuff has been erased and forgotten. It all makes for lively debate though:thumbsup:
 
Each to their own I suppose. :rolleyes: I'm not sure why you would find that album quite so offensive if your a fan of 'music' generally. But I suppose if your musical tastes are more niche you are probably going to hate it!:D
Wouldn't it be a boring world if we all liked the same music. I thought the late 1970s through the 1980s was absolute crap for music.
 

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